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Denki liked Bakugou, of that much they were sure. And not just in the ‘oh this dudes super cool lets be friends with him’ way like they were used to. No what they felt for Bakugou was more along the lines of ‘I wish you would smile more, and I wish I could hold your hand even once because you light up my world’.
It was unfortunate really. Because Denki was 100% sure that the explosive blond would never feel the same about them in a million years, and honestly who could blame him. Denki wasn’t unaware of who they were. They were stupid, overexcitable, loud, over the top, ugly, and worst of all short circuited from their own quirk almost every other day.
So yes, Denki reached the conclusion that they liked Bakugou, and Bakugou would never like them back.
Denki reached said conclusion in roughly 5 minutes, staring at Bakugou the entire time.
They had been playing video games in Sero’s room, the whole gang, Kirishima, Sero, Mina, Bakugou and himself, all in the room taking turns on Mario kart. Currently Sero and Kirishima were battling for 1st place while everyone else watched, or at least everyone but Denki obviously. They were sat to the side of the group, on the floor near the door, resting their chin in their hands as they stared at Bakugou, somehow not realising when they made eye-contact with said boy.
“Oi, dunce face! Fuck are you starin’ at?!” and suddenly they were eye to eye with Bakugou grabbing their collar and lifting them off the floor, the other three in the room going quiet to see what was happening, “WELL??”
The response, “Honestly dude? You’re really pretty and I like you,” was out of their mouth before they could stop themself, quickly slamming hands over their own mouth in shock, eyes wide as they muttered a simple but resounding “fuck” and running out of Sero’s room before anyone even had the chance to process what they had said, no noise following them except for the faint sound of tiny explosions.
They ran to their own room, muttering ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ and ‘what the fuck’ under their breath the whole way. Electricity was flying off of them as they closed the door to their room with a loud thud, golden arches curving around their body as they threw themself on the bed and screamed into their pillow.
‘How could I be so stupid, oh my gods- he’s gunna kill me, I’m never going to be a hero because I was stupid enough to develop a crush on BAKUGOU KATSUKI and then CONFESS to him!!! Stupid, stupid, stupid!’
Somewhere in the back of their mind they could hear the text notifications going off on their phone at an alarming pace, but they elected to ignore it in preference of trying to asphyxiate themself before Bakugou could get his hands on them. It isn’t that hard to smother yourself with a pillow, right? There are so many shows that have people doing it to each other, surely they could work it out.
And sure, maybe there were tears falling out of their eyes and into their pillow because the idea of Bakugou rejecting them was scarier than Bakugou killing them, but it didn’t matter cause he hadn’t. Denki hadn’t given him the chance to, so it didn’t happen and as long as they never leave their room again he won’t ever get it.
And sure, maybe that would be weird, never leaving their dorm room again. They wouldn’t be able to be a hero from their bedroom, and someone would probably try to evict them eventually, but it was fine. They’d figure it out. Anything to prevent ever having to face Bakugou’s wrath.
Eventually, whether it was minutes or hours later, they calmed down enough to pull their face from the pillow and turn over to lay facing the ceiling instead, looking at the small glow-in-the-dark stars they’d added a few weeks after moving in. They sighed softly, tears still leaking from the corners of their eyes, before curling into a ball on their side and falling asleep, suddenly exhausted.
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Waking up to someone jumping on them wasn’t entirely new, it had become a common occurrence after moving into the dorms, but for it to happen when Denki was mentally exhausted and just wanted to sleep for a few more years was slightly new. Mainly because they hadn’t ever felt this way before.
Yes, Denki had felt self-doubt, and sadness, and rejection, and everything else before. But for some reason everything about the current situation felt different, their chest was heavy, and their head was sore, and they just wanted to sink into the bed and never escape.
Looking back Mina jumping up and then sitting on their chest might have been a contributing factor.
“DENKIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!” Was screeched into their ear over and over by the pinkette until they decided they were awake enough for the noise to piss them off and they threw a pillow into her face.
“What could you possibly want enough to break into my room Mina?” They grumbled pulling the pillow back.
“Well one, hard to break in when you don’t lock the door,” Sero’s amused voice came from the edge of the bed where he’d been unnoticed in the wake of Mina’s antics, “and two, we wanted to see how our fav Pikachu was going seeing as you ran off last night and then didn’t answer any of our messages.”
Denki just groaned and shoved the pillow into their face, deciding that was an appropriate answer to the current situation.
“Come on bean its not that bad! Besides Bakugou’s not even that mad,” at this Denki quickly removed the pillow and sat up, headbutting Mina in the process, before looking over at Sero mouth hanging open. “Serious! He didn’t yell or blow up or anything after you left, just went all quiet and went to bed.”
“So… he’s not on his way to kill me?” Denki squeaked, a bolt of electricity shooting out between their hands as they rung them together.
“No babe,” Mina laughed, “I’m actually fairly sure Kirishima said he was making breakfast for all of us!”
“Wh-What? Really?” They stuttered while Mina moved to get up and pull them out of their bed.
“YUP! So up you get, time to get dressed then go get your man,” she winked slapping his butt gently, before briefly turning serious, “Unless we all misunderstood your confession last night?”
Denki whined and shoved their hands into their hair before throwing them up, “Ah- I mean- No, I guess not. I mean YES, I like him. Ahh I don’t know Mina, what do I do?”
“Exactly what I just said, get dressed, go downstairs, and get your man.” She said it in such a sure way all they could do was nod as she directed them to some clothes Sero and her had clearly already picked out for them, before grabbing Sero’s arm and heading out the door yelling out as she closed it, “Don’t take too long sparky!”
‘Well… I’m not dead and it doesn’t seem like Bakugou is mad at me so maybe… it’ll be okay? He’s probably just being nice and letting me down easy or something. But I’ll be super good to make up for it, so he won’t get annoyed at me!’
Denki nodded to themself before looking at the clothes properly. Simple ripped black skinny jeans and a white button up with yellow lightning bolts on it, not exactly what they would have picked that day but all well Mina knows best. Adding a black choker and shoving on some shoes they ran downstairs, having too much energy to wait for the elevator, making sure not to trip on their way down.
Skidding to a stop just before the kitchen door where they could hear Bakugou and Kirishima talking they smoothed their hair and clothes down, taking a deep breath before walking in with a smile on their face.
“Hey guys! What’s up?”
“Kami, hey, just in time bean, help me set the table for everyone.” Kiri said gesturing to the plates and cutlery on the bench in front of him.
“Sure bro!” they smiled more as they grabbed the stuff almost dropping them as a hand wrapped around their arm.
“Oi dunce-face -” ‘oh shit maybe he changed his mind, I’m going to die, I knew this was dumb of course he’d hate me’ “- you look nice.”
‘Huh?’
“Huh? Y-you… th-thank you?” they glanced up at Bakugou’s face, blushing fiercely, before deciding that was a bad idea because it just made them blush more and looking at the floor near their feet instead.
“Mm.” and their arm was released, and they was setting the table while their face felt like it was burning more than a burn from one of Bakugou’s explosions.
Eventually Mina and Sero walked in, laughing to themselves, before joining them at the table and winking.
“Sooo… how’s it going Denks?” Mina giggled wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“Mina shut up! I don’t want to make him mad!” they whined back quietly.
“Bae he’s literally making us breakfast, he hasn’t blown anything up all day, and he complimented your outfit,” Kirishima leant down against Denki’s chair. “I don’t think he’s been in such a good mood without fighting someone… ever.”
“Honestly, I recon he’d even be chill with Midoriya right now man, given I’m 90% sure he’s humming to himself and he hasn’t told us off for gossiping yet.” Sero added.
Denki glanced over and listened hard before realising Sero was right, Bakugou was standing at the stove, making the squad breakfast, humming softly to himself and smiling
slightly without an inch of tension in his shoulders. He looked the most relaxed and happy Denki had ever seen him. Denki just lowered their face to rest on their arms against the table, watching Bakugou happily, letting the others talk to themselves (they weren’t dumb enough to not see that they were officially done with the conversation and moved on to talking about how they could discreetly leave the two alone together somewhere).
They took the chance to finally take in what Bakugou was wearing too. Plain black jeans with a chain and dark red belt, black button down half tucked into his jeans with the sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms and chunky combat boots. He looked good and if Denki hadn’t already been blushing basically all morning they would have started at the realisation that Bakugou was dressed up nicely. Instead of overthinking the reason why Denki just admired gratefully, deciding to take what he could get.
When Bakugou finally finished cooking breakfast for them all he dropped the plates in front of everyone before sitting directly next to Denki and knocking shoulders with them gently, almost making them short circuit.
Somehow, they got through breakfast with minimal swearing (Bakugou), a small hole in the table (Mina), and lots of laughter (mostly Mina and Sero, with a little Kirishima, all at Denki’s expense). Despite all the very not subtle teasing Bakugou didn’t blow them up once, instead he just pushed his leg against Denki’s, almost in a reassuring manner as they both blushed slightly.
And while Denki would never admit it, they were fairly sure seeing Bakugou soft and blushing was something they’d give everything they had to see again, even once. And, if the gods were kind and NOT playing some major joke on them, they might actually get that chance.
Because instead of going off to training after breakfast was eaten he just grabbed Denki’s hand in his, ‘calloused and scarred – probably from his explosions – but still so soft good god I’m going to die but in a good way this time’, and told the others to clean up while he tugged Denki out of the kitchen.
Bakugou took then outside the dorm, not even stopping to yell at Midoriya who yelped out of reflex when he caught sight of them before his expression became confused that he wasn’t getting blasted or yelled at. Denki just waved happily at him as Bakugou continue pulling them away.
After a while walking Denki giggled, finally realising Bakugou was taking them to a nearby park they had mentioned to the group a few weeks back, and linked Bakugou and their hands together properly.
Swinging the hands back and forth slightly they looked up at Bakugou’s face, smiling brightly at him, as they finally reached the park.
Bakugou just huffed something under his breathe about needing sunglasses and lead them to a tree before sitting down and pulling Denki down with him.
They landed basically in his lap, a small squeak leaving their lips as the hand not holding Denki’s wrapped around their waist gently to steady them, causing them to blush and stutter.
“Uh- umm… so…”
Bakugou just laughed and smiled, “What? Nervous now?”
“I mean, yeah a little…”
“Don’t be, please?” Bakugou saying please? They looked up at him in surprise. “I know I didn’t react the fucking best last night, but you caught me off guard okay? I didn’t expect
you to just blurt the fuck out that you think I’m fucking pretty or whatever. But not because I didn’t like it…”
And yes, Bakugou was blushing a little, and yes, Denki felt like they were about to pass out from happiness.
“I fucking like you too okay dunce-face? Have for a while.” He grunted out.
Denki smiled so much it felt like their cheeks were going to bruise, “Bakugou I-”
“Katsuki.”
“What?” they squeaked.
“Call me Katsuki, alright?” he said, hand wrapping tighter around Denki’s waist just a little, as if he were worried they were going to move away.
Denki just smiled softly, “Only if you call me Denki okay? You can keep the nicknames if you want but I want at least one nice one and you have to call me Denki when we’re alone alright?”
“Sounds fucking great to me lightning bug.” He said booping Denki’s nose, making them giggle again.
Carefully Denki untangled their fingers from Bak- Katsuki’s and wrapped both arms around his neck instead.
“So… could I maybe… kiss you?” they asked shyly.
Katsuki didn’t respond, just leaned forward and connected their lips together softly, humming happily as he did.
'Yeah this is the best way to die' they hummed happily to themself while finally kissing Katsuki like they'd been dreaming for so long.
They stayed together in the park, just the two of them wrapped in each-others company for a while, before their friends decided the two had had enough alone time and burst into the park.
Katsuki started yelling at them, but he also slipped his hand into Denki’s and didn’t let go, even when Mina squealed and cooed happily over the two.
And yeah, Denki liked Katsuki… but Katsuki liked them back too, so maybe that wasn’t too bad.